Did you know that the Bible is a Catholic book? The New Testament (NT) was written, copied, and collected by Catholic Christians 1500 years before the Protestant reformers broke away from the Church. So when a Protestant friend says, "Hey, why did you Catholics add seven books to the Bible?" just smile, and then dazzle him by saying, "We're using the same Greek Old Testament (OT) canon used by Jesus, His followers, and NT writers." Then put your friend on the defensive by asking, "Why don't you use the Greek OT. It was good enough for Jesus, why isn't it good enough for you?"

There are two OT canons today: one used by Protestants, based on the Palestinian (or Hebrew) canon that was put together in the late first century AD; and one used by Catholic and Orthodox Christians, based on the Alexandrian (or Greek) canon that was put together two hundred years before the birth of Jesus.

A "canon" is a measuring standard. Thus the canon of Scripture is an approved list of inspired books. The Greek or Alexandrian canon is often referred to as the "Septuagint" translation. Septuagint is Latin for 70 (LXX). According to tradition, 70 Jewish scholars translated the OT Scriptures into Greek in the 3rd century BC in Alexandra, Egypt. The city possessed the greatest library in the ancient world. Jesus and the NT writers used and quoted the Septuagint. More than 300 OT quotations found in the NT are from the Septuagint. Most importantly, the NT was written in Greek. Remember, by the time of Jesus, Greek was the common language of the entire Mediterranean world. Hebrew was a dying language.

The Septuagint OT contains 46 books, while the Hebrew OT contains 39. 1 and 2 Maccabees, Baruch, Judith, Sirach, Tobit, and Wisdom, as well as portions of Daniel and Esther, are not found in the Hebrew.

Around 100 AD, Jewish rabbis at Jamnia, Palestine, established the Hebrew OT canon. You might be thinking, "Why at this late date?" No one is certain. We do know that first century Jews saw the Church and its teachings as a threat. This is perhaps part of their motivation for establishing the Hebrew canon of Scripture. These Jewish rabbis used four criteria to select the books of their canon. Each book had to be: written in Hebrew, in conformity with the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy---the first five books of the OT), older than 400 BC, and physically written in Palestine.

After breaking with the Church, Martin Luther decided to use the Hebrew OT canon. Why? One reason was that some of the Church teachings he rejected were supported in the seven books not found in the Hebrew canon.

I ask you this question, "Wouldn't you rather use the OT used by Jesus and the early Church than the OT used by the Jews who rejected Christ and by Martin Luther and the Protestants who rejected Church teachings?"

Most Christians don't realize that the first NT book wasn't written until 15 to 20 years after Jesus' resurrection. In the early Church, oral tradition was the only means of passing on the faith. In Mk 16:15 Jesus tells the Apostles, "Go into all the world and PREACH the gospel to the whole creation." No where in the Bible is Jesus quoted as telling His followers to write down His thoughts and teachings. Why? Most people of Jesus' day couldn't read---but they had ears to hear.

The official canon of the Bible was determined by the Catholic Church at the Councils of Hippo, 393 AD and Carthage, 397 AD.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 120-141. I also recommend Henry G. Graham's book, "Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church" for more information on this topic.